Sunday, April 22, 2012

Before I get to the totally unbelieveable non-gardening aspect of this post, let me take a moment to tell you that the garden is growing in leaps and bounds. I'm trying my fourth position for the peppers and they seem to be doing well. I planted all of my tomatoes out today - six in a box and then six in pots. As always, it was interesting since this year, even though I didn't forget to label them like last year, I think the kids got out there and moved my labels around. The only ones I could correctly identify were the Brandywine. The rest will be an adventure.

We're eating lettuce and radishes like they're going out of style and the beans and cucumbers are sprouting and broccoli headding and I've only pulled three cabbages with worms. The rest seem okay for now.

The squash in beds is doing fantastically and I couldn't bring myself to throw out some squash seedlings so I put them directly in the ground on the side of the house. We'll see what becomes of them. We do have some volunteers in the burn pit. I can't believe they survived even after we fired it, but this is where we threw the pumpkins out and they look like they'll now be staking their claim to the burn pit.

They won't get any sun now that the trees are filling in, but I think it's funny how the seeds know just what they're supposed to do and get the job done regardless.

On to the non gardening portion of our show - but you've got to wait for the good stuff.

On our way to St. Louis for spring break we stopped in Metropolis, Il. We got a guide book and went to see the antique fire truck at the station and wound up getting a very indepth tour of the facility. They were FANTASTIC to the children.

Now, no town can be named Metropolis without it being dubbed the home of Superman and no town tauting itself as the home of Superman would be complete without a giant Superman statue in the middle of town.

And now I've seen it all my friends.

But there are times where you just look at your life and go, "Really? .....Really?" Such a day, for me, was yesterday. There has been a feral cat roaming the neighborhood for a few weeks. Around 8:00 yesterday morning, the kids saw the cat on our pool deck and asked if they could go outside to see it. We went on the upper deck to look and when the cat started to come closer, I said to them, "You can look, but don't touch that cat. You don't know what it will do."

The cat was a love bug. It was meowing, rubbing itself on the wood, grill and house, rolling over so we could see its belly. I then said again, "You can look, but don't touch that cat." The cat apparently took exception to that, popped up to his feet and began slow, low to the ground, stalking me. I was able to say twice, "The cat is stalking me - get away, " when that rotten cat pounced at me like a jack-in-the-box. That nefarious fiend turned his body in mid air so its jaws were on either side of my shin, clung on with teeth and claws and then pushed off just as swiftly as he pounced. I'm afraid I spouted a few unladylike words as I herded the kids inside.

It surely hurt, but I didn't think he had gotten to do much damage because I had on sweat pants.
Right.

Those would be nice puncture marks. I look like I got into a fight with a vampire and lost.
Let's run this down:
Feral cat that attacks unprovoked
Cats have FILTHY mouths and claws
Feral cat
Rabies
Last time I had a tetanus shot: before I went to college - and for the sake of arguing, let's just say that was a long, long time ago.

It took me hours to find a clinic that was open, and of course both kids were unwilling to let me out of their sight, so they came with me. The Dr. was about to go to lunch, so I took the kids for some themselves, only to return to hear that she couldn't help me since it was an animal bite and she sent me somewhere else.

We sat at this somewhere else for about two hours. Both kids were fantastic with the exception that the girl was convinced all would be well if I put my leg up which meant her kneeling on the ground assuming the position of someone giving an offering and then me placing my leg in her outstretched arms while we were in the waiting room with God and everyone else.

Four hours, a tetanus shot and antibiotics later, I barely had time to shower before I had to leave to chaperone Prom, and as I wrote in an email to a friend earlier, I didn't get home until around 12:00 Am and couldn't fall asleep because the residual beats inside my head said 'dance
on, fool!' However, being that I was not in danger falling out of my dress
from either the front or the back from by dress being seven sizes too
small, my sense of adventure rapidly dissipated and I achieved
Dreamland which even so proved more difficult than I thought since I couldn't rest on my left because of my leg and my right arm hurt from the tetanus shot. I'm not begruding the kids tears anymore when they get shots.

Then, that rotten cat stalked me again this morning while I was in the garden. It followed me from the side yard, under the fence and then to the back door as I ran in the house. The man turned the hose on it, but it came back later. That cat had better not be rabid. I need to call my dr. in the morning to follow up with her and see if I need to worry about that.

And yes, because I know you're dying to know, we did have one
dress burst, tears in the bathroom, and blood spilled. It was A PROM,
BABY!!!

Oh wow. I'd probably get the animal control officer in my town to get the cat and get it tested for rabies (especially with kids in the yard). If he couldn't capture it, I'd get the shots. I've heard they really suck, but any animal that acts weird is suspect. Aggressiveness is a symptom. BTW I've been known to faint with shots and I'd still get them. Cats don't stalk humans. Usually feral cats avoid humans or very slowly get to know them.

I'm laughing about the stalking kitty but I'm thinking it's not so funny the rabies bit. And it is possible. I don't know a cat would act that way. I have 3 feral cats that follow me around but keep their distance. I'm hoping it's nothing. A thought comes to my head....but you may not like it. Any animal suspected of rabies must be captured and then they "test" it and by testing it, I mean to say, "Off with her his/her head!" I hope it's not rabies(there would be some foaming at the mouth) and just the cat is nuts:) Keep us updated. Chris

I am sorry but I would be breaking out my pellet gun if a cat did that to me. Sorry that happened to you, but that is some crazy stuff. I bet your kids never go around stray cats for the rest of the lives.

Wow. Just wow. I hate to worry you, but you should really email the owner of Piedmont Yarn in CA and ask about her employee who got a feral cat bite. . . it's not pretty and can be the sort of thing you want to keep a very close eye on.

Put up flyers about the cat. Someone in the neighborhood is bound to know. But, do try not to worry - I know plenty of cats first hand that like to attack just like that because they think it's freaking funny. Darn stalkers. Meanwhile call animal control to try to trap it.

Yikes!!! Glad you got in to the clinic and were seen. Keep an eye on the cat and the behavior should tell you pretty quickly if you have to worry about rabies, it's a pretty quick progressing disease. When I worked in the vet hospital we had to get preventative rabies vacc one year and I don't recommend you go through that unless necessary LOL. I wouldn't expect anyone to come forward and tell you if it's theirs since they would be subject to a fine then. Your garden is putting out some good stuff! I haven't even planted the beans yet because I haven't felt up to watching the birds and voles take them all, but by the end of the week I will get up the nerve :)

Like the others said too, you could always "take it out" and have animal control test it! Since it bit you and you can show evidence of the bite I highly doubt they would take any action against shooting it :)

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About Me

I'm a wife, teacher and mom of two who came by gardening accidentally in order to appease a fussy child in a big-box hardware store. He saw yellow pear tomatoes (his favorite color) and we became container gardeners.
As it goes with anything involving children, my interest far outlasted his and now we have a square foot garden in our corner yard.
As long as we can battle the bugs and keep the dog from the soil, we might have some fun.